Welcome to my blog and thanks soso much for spending a little while peeping into my world

... all from my little home studio in Durban, on the east coast of sunny South Africa!

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird." -- Paul McCartney

The image I used for my card is UNICORN from the Bugaboo Stamps store.
The colouring medium is alcohol markers and a white gel pen. I cut
the image using a Marianne's Creatables die and sewed on some flower
gems using little pearls. The rest of the card is made up of offcuts of
DP and satin ribbon. The little square embellishments in the bottom
right had corner are mini glass mosaic tiles.

Here is a better look at the image, and you'll see the lovely glitter on the unicorn's mane and tail:

To be in line to win a fabulous prize of Bugaboo images all you need to do is to create a papercraft project according to the sketch and link it to the challenge here.

The new releases are really varied today, and quite a number are
definitely not in the ‘cute’ category. Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release and the gorgeous cards
made with some of them!

This CAS card features one of the new images called "MY BUNNY SLIPPERS" which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white gel pen for
the highlights.

Here is a better look at the image:

I used an offcut of DP printed with a washing line of laundry, and the sentiment is firstly a stick-on and the rest is what I made in MS Word. I matted onto a bright pink CS and added two pink gems as embellishments.

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are really varied today, and quite a number are
definitely not in the ‘cute’ category. Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release and the gorgeous cards
made with some of them!

This CAS card features one of the new images called "BUMBLEBEEWITH FRUIT" which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white gel pen for
the highlights.

Here is a better look at the image, (can you see the Glossy Accents on the watermelon slice?)

The only embellishments on this card are the two vintage buttons from my granny's button box (I have a large cake tin full of the most wonderful buttons!!!) I have always thought that these buttons look like the outside of a watermelon, do you agree?

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are really varied today, and quite a number are
definitely not in the ‘cute’ category. Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release and the gorgeous cards
made with some of them!

This card features one of the new images I drew for the store,
called "VESPERS" which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white
gel pen for the highlights.

To construct the CAS card I punched the top edge with a Martha Stewart punch and added only a little child's prayer to it.

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are really varied today, and quite a number are
definitely not in the ‘cute’ category. Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release and the gorgeous cards
made with some of them!

This card features one of the new images I drew for the store,
called "HANDBAG" which I teamed up with another digistamps 4 Joy image released earlier this month, called 'Furry Boots" as I thought they would look great together. I coloured the images using alcohol markers and a white
gel pen for the highlights.

Here is a better look at the images:

To construct the card I matted brown velvet embossed DP onto brown CS. The embellishments are a leather button and diecut flower, and three Card Candi legless brads.

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are really varied today, and quite a number are
definitely not in the ‘cute’ category. Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new releases and the gorgeous cards
made with some of them!

This card features one of the new images I drew for the store,
called "NAPTIME" which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white
gel pen for the highlights. I really enjoyed the ‘white on white’
colour palette and think it works perfectly for a baby card.

Here is a better look at the image:

I used a Marianne's Creatables die to cut out the image, and sewed on some pearls. It is matted onto an embossed mat (Swiss Dots) and tied with a white organza ribbon and bow. There is a transparent acrylic flower and pearl sewn onto the bow.

Friday, July 27, 2012

The featured image is one from Jackson's Digital Expressions, called Lil Miss Thang that I coloured using alcohol markers. Here is a better look at the incredibly cute image that was such fun to colour:

I fussy cut the image and layered it onto blue cardstock that was punched and then onto blue/white floral DO has I embellished by sewing on pearls and red seed beads. The gems are stick-ons.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Yes, that's today challenge in the Twisted Thursday Group at the Outlawz where anything goes ... A DAY AT THE BEACH ... and it gave me the opportunity to work with this Nana Vic's Digitals digistamp again:

Here is a better look at the image

I coloured it using alcohol markers and a white gel pen, and what is particularly enjoyable for me is to create the clouds in the sky, the shades of the sea, and the difference in colour in wet and dry seasand. Sometimes I like to use colours to show that it's a bright and hot sunny day, and on others I like to give the impression that it's a little cloudy, a little windy, and how the lack of bright sunshine dilutes the colours a little.

Isn't it amazing how some images 'speak' to your creative soul ... and this is one of them. Another is Guylou's Fahra, but I digress ...

The rest of my card is pretty simple so as not to detract from the image ... Striped DP, a chippie sentiment and some pearls and wooden beads strung onto raffia. There is a real shell attached to the sentiment.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

I knew as soon as I saw the sketch that I had a die cut Fleur de Lis and matching paper that I just needed to use for this. I hand cut a tag in the same shape as the sketch that I had already printed the Thomas Edison quote onto. All the edges were inked/distressed, and I added a heart shaped gem and four round gems, and my card was complete.

The image I have used is one of my own drawings for Digistamps 4 Joy called "Pensive, which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white gel pen.

Here is a better look at the image:

As embellishments I used a spray of flowers, sewn on using invisible thread (the kind I use to bead the belly dance costumes I make), some satin ribbon, sewn on flower sequins and beads for a bit of bling, and I made two stickpins to add to the flower spray. There is a little metal charm hanging from the ribbon.

The striped component is in the DP from Fabscraps, and the polka dots can be seen in the mini swiss dots embossing behind the image (on the orange mat).

I added the children's poem "Monday's Child" as the sentiment, and a large gem, a flower and a leaf are the 'stop' for the easel:

Here is a better look at the image which I coloured using alcohol markers and a white gel pen:

The background is created by using two different DP, the one torn and pasted over the other, and I added a spray of flowers and buds,which were sewn on using invisible thread. I also drew some flourishes by hand and sewed on the orange acrylic beads in that shape.

Besides entering this card into the challenge at the Outlawz, I would like to enter the following challenges too:

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are a mixed bag of themes, and quite a
number of BACK TO SCHOOL images too.
Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release
and the gorgeous cards made with some of them!

This card features one of the new images
I drew for the store, called "BACK TO COLLEGE COLLEEN" which I coloured using alcohol
markers and a white gel pen for the highlights.

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are a mixed bag of themes, and quite a
number of BACK TO SCHOOL images too.
Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release
and the gorgeous cards made with some of them!

This card features the new image called "School Bus" which I coloured using alcohol
markers and a white gel pen for the highlights.

Here is a better look at that cute little bus:

I added a border of some fun trees and a little flag with the word "school" on it to be part of the sentiment which I made in WordArt in MS Word.

It’s Sunday, and time for
some more NEW RELEASES in the Digistamps for Joy store today!

The new releases are a mixed bag of themes, and quite a
number of BACK TO SCHOOL images too.
Click HERE to link to the blog to see all today’s new release
and the gorgeous cards made with some of them!

This card features two of the new images
I drew for the store, called "Back Pack Bro" and "Back PackBernie" which I coloured using alcohol
markers and a white gel pen for the highlights.

Here is a close-up of the
images:

I felt that the DP was busy enough without adding extra embellishments, other than the buttons tie with bakers twine.